




I designed the firewall based on space constraints in the chassis and manufacturability. There are no complex curves in the design since the aluminum must be bent to the desired shape first. The Aluminum backing facing the driver is connected to low-voltage ground through the mounting tabs. This protects the driver from any high-voltage malfunctions.
The Firewall mounts with quarter turn fastners. This is to improve serviceiblity of low voltage components behind the firewall.

I manufactured the firewall with a vacuum layup. I used a sheet metal bender to cut and bend the aluminum.
Harness tab was designed to be able withstand 15,000N of tearout load per tab based on rules from FSAE.
The tabs were designed to be manufactured from rectangular steel tubing so that the bolts were in double shear while being easy and efficient to manufacture since there it was milled out of correctly sized tube rather than a solid block of steel. Although 2 tabs cut from 1/8" sheet metal could have been used, it would have been very challenging to weld the inside edge of the tab as required by rules. The hardware is M12 high-strength alloy steel shouldered bolts.



Some projects I did to learn how to use the CNC mill.
CADed in SolidWorks and prograrmed the tool paths in MasterCAM
This Aerospace grade coaster is an epitome of overengineering. But-why not?
